In ERI, there are several externally funded project such as researches supported by the Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research. Below are the list of the running projects. Press + to see in detail.

Present Project

Science of Slow Earthquakes H28-H32

Our research will shed light on the mystery of “slow earthquakes”, which have been detected in succession in recent years. This will require an approach integrating the conventional fields of geophysics, seismology, and geodesy with materials science and non-equilibrium statistical physics, among others. By explaining the mechanisms, environmental conditions and principles of slow earthquakes, our goal is to accelerate a unified understanding of all earthquake events, from low-speed deformation to high-speed slip, and at the same time, to rebuild the way research is conducted on earthquakes.Project Website

Special Project for Reducing Vulnerability for Urban Mega Earthquake Disasters

In the Tokyo metropolitan area, many problems specific to urban regions have been exposed: liquefaction damage, stranded commuters, paralyzed traffic, suspensions of business activities, power blackout, lost of lifelines, etc. Metropolitan areas in Japan concentrate sophisticated social functions and are the political and economic nerve centers of the country. As such, they are particularly vulnerable to natural hazards like earthquakes. When large earthquakes occur, unforeseen consequences are exposed and considerable damages may happen. We have just started the Special Project for Reducing Vulnerability in Urban Mega Earthquake Disasters (2012?2016), which is sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. This project is composed of three academic disciplines: Earth and physical sciences, engineering, and human social sciences. It seeks to (1) clarify the earthquake mechanism of southern Kanto region and develop evaluation technology for seismic damages in urban areas; (2) develop technology for rapid damage assessment of high-rise office buildings which may be damaged during earthquakes, and (3) develop strategies to increase earthquake social resilience. These three disciplines are usually studied independently. However, we have one common mission, to reduce the impact of seismic events. Multidisciplinary collaboration has an important role in our project.Project Website

Integrated research project for the Tachikawa Fault Zone

Tachikawa fault zone is located near the Tokyo metropolitan area, and regarded as one of the most important active structure that might generate hazardous earthquake. Although seismic hazards are dominated by great earthquakes on the subduction megathrusts, complex intraplate strain is also accommodated by active faults formed in response to subduction processes. In addition stress perturbation associated with M9 Tohoku-oki earthquake may enhance seismicity near them. Their proximity or location near Tokyo makes these faults disproportionally more hazardous. Therefore, more accurate estimates of strong ground motion is highly critical to mitigation of seismic hazards of this area. However, active structures in the Kanto basin are typically and little expression at highly urbanized earth’s surface, making understanding of recent slip histories across them elusive. We started a new multidisciplinary research project on the Tachikawa fault zone to understand subsurface fault geometries, present seismicity, paleoseismic behaviors, documented earthquakes, and strong ground motion calculation.Project Website

Past Project

Integrated research project for the Tachikawa Fault Zone

Tachikawa fault zone is located near the Tokyo metropolitan area, and regarded as one of the most important active structure that might generate hazardous earthquake. Although seismic hazards are dominated by great earthquakes on the subduction megathrusts, complex intraplate strain is also accommodated by active faults formed in response to subduction processes. In addition stress perturbation associated with M9 Tohoku-oki earthquake may enhance seismicity near them. Their proximity or location near Tokyo makes these faults disproportionally more hazardous. Therefore, more accurate estimates of strong ground motion is highly critical to mitigation of seismic hazards of this area. However, active structures in the Kanto basin are typically and little expression at highly urbanized earth’s surface, making understanding of recent slip histories across them elusive. We started a new multidisciplinary research project on the Tachikawa fault zone to understand subsurface fault geometries, present seismicity, paleoseismic behaviors, documented earthquakes, and strong ground motion calculation.Project Website

Normal Oceanic Mantle Project

The oceanic mantle is an important region to understand the Earth system, as more than 2/3 of the Earth surface is covered by oceanic area. In the ‘normal oceanic mantle’ between mid oceanic ridge and subduction zone in particular, there remain a couple of most fundamental questions in Earth science: (a) “What is the physical condition for the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary (LAB)?” and (b) “Is the mantle transition zone (MTZ) a major water reservoir of the Earth?”. We propose to conduct a research program toward understanding of the mantle dynamics from an innovative observational approach.Project Website

Special Project for Earthquake Disaster Mitigation in Tokyo Metropolitan Area

A M 7 or greater (M 7+) earthquake in this region at present has high potential to produce devastating loss of life and property with even greater global economic repercussions. The Central Disaster Management Council of Japan estimates the next great earthquake will cause 11,000 fatalities and 112 trillion yen (1 trillion US$) economic loss. This great earthquake is evaluated to occur with a probability of 70 % in 30 years by the Earthquake Research Committee of Japan. We conducted the Special Project for Earthquake Disaster Mitigation in Urban Areas (2002-2006). This project revealed the detailed geometry of the subducted PSP and improved information needed for seismic hazards analyses of the largest urban centers.Project Website